President Biden is a Catholic, and he long favored some restrictions on abortion when he was a senator (1973-2009).[1]  He now says that “Roe v. Wade got it right” and in the words of the New York Times “he seeks to put support for abortion at the heart of his re-election campaign.” 

            Biden has sought to by-pass the Supreme Court’s decision to return the question of abortion to the states.  Since “nearly two thirds” of abortions are by means of medication and that medication could be obtained in any state through the mail, Biden’s Justice Department has led the way by defending access to the medications (chiefly mifepristone).  On the one hand, the administration persuaded the Supreme Court to unanimously reject a lawsuit trying to limit access to the drug. On the other hand, the Department has issued an opinion that sending abortifacients through the mail does not violate the Comstock Act of 1873’s ban on sending abortifacients through the mail.[2]  He has also endorsed the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) in its effort to expand the list of approved providers to retail pharmacies.  His Department of Health and Human Services has “warned”[3] pharmacies that they might be violating civil rights laws if they refuse to dispense drugs that have multiple purposes. 

            In a second term, Biden wants to pass a law that would affirm the right to abortion throughout the United States.  He acknowledges that, to achieve this goal, the Democrats will need majorities in both the House and the Senate, and the end of the filibuster in the Senate.[4] 

            Former President Trump called himself “very pro-choice” a quarter-century ago.  When he sought the Republican nomination in 2026, he became an opponent of abortion.  He appointed three new Justices to the Supreme Court, which then overturned “Roe v. Wade.”  The Court returned the matter to the states to decide.  Former President Trump supports that decision.[5]  Trump also acted against public funding for abortions through the so-called Title X grants. 

However, Trump has been opaque, at the least, about other measures being suggested by opponents of any abortions for anyone anywhere.  In response to the—apparently previously unrecognized–fact that most abortions are performed by means of medications and those medications can be obtained through the mail, abortion opponents hastily turned to the Comstock Act.  Here the Trump campaign has not yet formulated a policy. 

Both candidates have moved far from their older positions, although Trump has moved farthest.  In the words of the New York Times, Trump has “largely treated abortion policy as a political transaction.”  It appears that the remark holds true for both men.  Now voters will exercise their right to choose which man’s political career to terminate for the health of the country. 

[1] For example, in 2006 he told an interviewer that “I do not view abortion as a choice and a right. I think it’s always a tragedy, and I think that it should be rare and safe, and I think we should be focusing on how to limit the number of abortions.” And further that “I won’t support public funding and I won’t support partial birth abortion.” Joe Biden described being an ‘odd man out’ with Democrats on abortion in 2006 interview | CNN Politics  In 2019 he abandoned his opposition to Medicaid funding abortions. 

[2] On the Act, see Comstock Act of 1873 – Wikipedia.  On its namesake, see Anthony Comstock – Wikipedia.  For the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, see New York Society for the Suppression of Vice – Wikipedia. 

[3] i.e. threatened.

[4] A Senate rule requires at least sixty votes to pass legislation.  The filibuster could be removed by a simple majority.  The Democrats currently have such a majority with 50 Senators and Vice President Harris as a tie-breaker.  The Democrats had a narrow majority in the House of Representatives from 2020 to 2022.  So, in theory and as in many earlier situations, they could have passed such a law without waiting for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.  The failure of the Democrats to seize this opportunity after President Trump had appointed three conservative Supreme Court Justices puzzles me.  One possible explanation is that the filibuster rule enables the minority party to block most of the legislation of the majority party at a time when elections are close to evenly balanced.  If you eliminate the filibuster so you can drive over your opponents, the same thing could happen to you after the next election.  For example, if the Republicans win control of the Congres and the White House, they could ram through a national abortion ban.  So, perhaps Biden’s proposed law will not be pressed if he wins a second term. 

[5] This seems consistent with his April 2024 statement that he would not sign a national abortion ban if passed by a future Congress.